Women's basketball: Buckeyes weather sluggish start

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Historically, Crisler Arena seldom has been a venue to push the Ohio State women's basketball team to Houdini heights.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Historically, Crisler Arena seldom has been a venue to push the Ohio State women's basketball team to Houdini heights.

But with 2:56 to go last night, the Michigan Wolverines had the Big Ten-leading Buckeyes clinging to a two-point lead and looking for a little magic.

Junior guard Shavelle Little supplied the escape route with a steal that led to a three-pointer by Brittany Johnson and, ultimately, a 52-44 victory.

This is the same Michigan team that No. 15 Ohio State (17-3, 8-1) defeated 70-50 in Columbus at the start of the conference season. It also is the same Michigan team that trails the series 45-6.

Until Johnson hit the three, the seventh win seemed a real possibility for the Wolverines (9-12, 2-8).

Sophomore center Jantel Lavender led Ohio State with 17 points and nine rebounds. She wasn't surprised by Michigan's ferocity.

"I knew that they played hard at home," Lavender said. "They beat Notre Dame here. We knew they were going to get after it."

In the first meeting this season, the Wolverines had trouble getting the ball past half-court. They showed early that ball pressure would be less of a factor.

The Buckeyes also had problems in the backcourt. Senior guard Ashlee Trebilcock went to the bench early in the first half because of an injury. She watched the second half with an ice pack on her right knee.

Little also was a nonfactor early. She picked up two fouls in the first three minutes and watched while Michigan took a 23-22 halftime lead.

The Buckeyes got going in the second half by pushing the ball inside to Lavender and Star Allen. Those two began drawing fouls and heading to the free throw line.

"We were more aggressive," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said. "About the eight-minute mark, we had a conversation and I think we were pretty aggressive."

Foster noted that the emergence of Johnson as an offensive threat helped mask the loss of Trebilcock. Johnson hit two big three-pointers in the second half and scored 13 points.

"Brittany really played maybe as well as she has in certain phases," he said. "She made the shot that really gave us some momentum necessary when she made that three in front of our bench with the shot clock winding down."

Little stripped the ball from Veronica Hicks to set up the play and set up the three by Johnson with an assist pass.

"That picked us up a lot," Lavender said. "(Johnson) can knock that down any time. She just took her time and brought us back into our offensive flow."

With Trebilcock out, Johnson becomes the team's top perimeter player. She showed she could handle the job.

"I give a lot of credit to Shevy (Little)," she said. "She drove to the lane and kicked it out to me. My girl helped out on Shevy. When she popped it out to me, I shot it and made it. We just have to keep playing hard and stay focused."

The Wolverines couldn't find the flow on offense in the second half. They didn't have a field goal in the final 10 minutes. They also missed 18 of 20 three-point attempts.

"Our defense kept us in the game until our offense got untracked," Foster said.